"It's been a good week for equality in Canada," said the bill's sponsor, Svend Robinson, an openly homosexual
member of Parliament.

The vote came just a day after MPs narrowly defeated a nonbinding motion
reaffirming marriage is between a man and woman only.

As WorldNetDaily reported,
opponents fear if Robinson's bill becomes law, the Bible will be deemed "hate
literature" under the criminal code in certain instances, as evidenced by the case of a Saskatchewan man fined
by a provincial human-rights tribunal for taking out a newspaper ad with
Scripture references to verses about homosexuality.

"I was not surprised it passed, because we have a morally bankrupt government
which cannot see past its bizarre liberal ideology," Brian Rushfeldt, executive
director of the Canada Family Action
Coalition, told WorldNetDaily.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which usually rubber stamps the House's
legislation. Rushfeldt said he hopes the Senate will at least debate the issue
and bring up "inherent dangers" in the bill not discussed in the House, but
thinks that is not likely.

The legislation then is signed into law by the governor general, who
represents the queen.

Robinson insisted an amendment protects religious expression, but opponents
note recent court cases in which judges have favored homosexual rights when they
clash with the rights of religious believers.

Some members of Parliament called it a "dangerous" law that muzzles free
speech, including Liberal Party member John McKay, who dubbed it a "chill bill."

"Anybody who has views on homosexuality that differ from Svend Robinson's
will be exposed rather dramatically to the joys of the Criminal Code," he said,
according to the Edmonton Sun.

Rushfeldt contends one of the law's dangers is the term "sexual orientation"
is not defined. He noted the American Psychiatric Association lists 24 behaviors
under "sexual orientation." They include polygamy, bestiality and pedophilia.

"So if in fact the term does include pedophilia, the law protects it [from
'hate speech']," he said.

Robinson said fears that freedom of speech and religion will suffer are "a
mask for homophobia for people who don't want to be honest about the real reason
why they don't want to include sexual orientation in the law," according to the
Toronto Globe and Mail.

He said he regularly receives hateful e-mails, the Toronto paper said, and
his Burnaby, B.C., office was trashed in 1988 when he became Canada's first
openly homosexual member of Parliament.